Thru the Bible

Steve Schwetz: When will these things be? What will be the sign of your coming? And what about the end of the age? Welcome to Thru the Bible. These are the very questions the disciples asked, and the ones Jesus answers in a powerful section of Scripture often called the Olivet Discourse. If you're just joining us, well, the word "discourse," maybe it sounds a little formal, but it really simply means sermon or teaching.

And here in Matthew, Jesus is speaking clearly about the future, even as he moves steadily toward the cross. I'm Steve Schwetz, your host, and this time our teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, continues in Matthew 25 as Jesus brings this teaching to a close. So find your seat on the Bible Bus, and let's hear from a few fellow passengers.

Terry writes, "Dr. McGee brings joy to my heart by teaching the Bible. He, along with you, Steve and Gregg, has become a trusted friend through the years. I'm excited to start Genesis. I listened to it on the radio in the 1990s and found the app in 2021. God used today's lesson to convict my heart of sin and encourage me to live my life honoring Jesus through even my smallest choices. Thank you for faithfully sharing the word."

Well, Terry, we're so glad that you're aboard with us. It's great to hear how God is using His word in your life. So keep it up. Here's what Scott from Oklahoma shares: "My grandpa had a love of the Bible which I always admired. When we asked my grandpa what his favorite book of the Bible was, he would give us a different one each time. My mom inherited that generational blessing and now so have I."

"I'm completing my first full five-year study and I look forward to the next trip. After my grandpa went on to be with the Lord and my mom was going through his things, she found an old TTB booklet that she gave to me. I listen to the program through the iPhone app. I invited a few of my friends to join us on the next trip."

Well, what a great family you've got, Scott. What a heritage. Your grandpa's description of his favorite book sounds a lot like Dr. McGee, doesn't it? Well, our last note comes—this one's from Kathy, who tells us this: "I've been regularly on the Bible Bus for two and a half years and have learned so much. I enjoy the systematic approach to learning the Bible and am definitely an audio learner."

"I'm looking for more information on the Bible Companion. I have a few family members I'd like to invite to join me on the ride, and I thought the questions would help keep us on track." Well, Kathy, I am so glad you asked. Our Bible Companions, well, they're a great way for you to go deeper with a group of people. You can download them for free, by the way, over at ttb.org, or you can purchase printed New Testament editions.

Each section includes a summary of Dr. McGee's teaching as well as links to the audio and scripture passages, and then reflection questions. It's really a perfect way to personally study or bring your group closer together around God's word. Just get our app or visit ttb.org to download your free Bible Companion for Matthew, or call 1-800-65-BIBLE if you'd like to purchase a paperback copy.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for making your word living and active in our hearts and minds. As we study the life of our Savior Jesus, please shape us more into his image. It's in his name we pray. Amen.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Today we come back to the 25th chapter of Matthew. It looks like we're never going to get out of the Olivet Discourse, but you can see the importance that I attach to it. And we're not bogged down, really. Actually, we are trying to cover a chapter a day. We'll need to average about that.

But wait just a moment. Many of the chapters are very brief, and we figured it out down also till it'll amount to about 26 verses. So that we are in a section where we are running around 40 to 50 verses in a chapter, and we're coming in the next chapter, chapter 26, to the longest chapter in the Gospel of Matthew, and that's 75 verses.

So you can see that three days in that chapter would actually not be too long. So you can understand why we're spending the time we are in Matthew. And let me add to that, we count this a key book of the Bible, and Genesis and Matthew are the two books that I'm putting such a great emphasis upon.

And, of course, when we get through these two books, you're going to find out I'm going to start putting an emphasis on 64 other books, because they're all important. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. I believe that the real difficulty today in our churches is not that people just don't know certain verses and certain chapters and certain books.

They just don't know the Bible, friends. And the Bible is made up of 66 books. It's a library, but we need to know the entire library. Now as we come today to the 31st verse of the 25th chapter, and if you have your Bible and we'll turn there, and let me make this statement: that in this chapter of the Olivet Discourse, our Lord is giving actually three parables—in fact, some of them are not parables—but the parable of the ten virgins, all of these are to alert God's people to the fact he's coming, to be ready for his coming.

All ten were looking for the bridegroom, but only five had oil, and that's equivalent of the Holy Spirit. Actually, you could be interested in prophecy and not be saved. I'm afraid we have people today in our churches, friends, that really do not know the Lord, but they know about certain doctrines and they know about certain truths like the second coming of Christ, and that's very exciting and interesting.

Now we have the parable of the talents here also, and they were given—that is, it reveals that all were given some talent by the master and were told to use the talents profitably. But one buried the talent. Now he was not faithful to his master. And the Lord's not going to ask you how much you've done when he comes. The important thing is, have you been faithful to that which he wanted you to do?

And two things are important therefore for the child of God is find out what he wants us to do. Are we one talent, two talent? I think one of the most upsetting things for ministers today is that a great many ministers feel like that they do not have a big enough work. They feel like they ought to have a great work. Well, if you're one talent, he expects you to be faithful over that.

So that we need to determine what the talent is, or the pound that he's given us, and then to be faithful in the use of that. Now we come here in verse 31 to the judgment of the nations. All nations were given an opportunity to hear and receive God's message in the great tribulation period. This gospel of the kingdom will be preached among all nations.

But some rejected the servants, that is Christ's brethren, and thereby rejected Christ. That is the picture that we have here. Now I recognize that some will disagree with us here also, but that's all right. You'll be in good company if you disagree with me in this interpretation. In fact, you will be in better company than being with me. But if you want to be right, of course, I'm sure you're going to want to come along with me.

But now let's look at it at least. Verse 31: "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory." You see, all is moving to the consummation of the ages. All is moving around this particular point, the polarization of all of the Olivet Discourse is moving toward the placing of Jesus Christ on the throne of this world in which you and I live, of this earth.

And that's the Gospel of Matthew. In fact, that's the message of the word of God. Now we have here the nations are to be judged. And somebody says, doesn't it mean individuals? All right, if you want to do that, individuals of the nations then. But nations are responsible to him. "And before him shall be gathered all nations," and the word is ethnic groups, let's say.

But they'll be responsible. "And he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats." Now I do not believe individuals are ever called goats. They're all sheep. All human beings are sheep. And there are two kinds of sheep: lost sheep, saved sheep. "All we like sheep have gone astray; we turned everyone to his own way; but the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."

His sheep turn to him. The lost sheep and saved sheep, and not sheep and goats. I think these are ethnic groups, nations if you please. And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Now what's the test? "Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, ye came unto me."

"Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? And when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." That 144,000 sealed at the beginning of the great tribulation will go out over the entire world to bring the message of the gospel of the kingdom.

Which is to accept and receive Christ as the sacrifice for their sins and be ready for his coming, for his coming immediately. Now some nations will reject him. Antichrist will have them butchered and slain. But wait just a minute. Anyone that would give them a cup of cold water would do it at the risk of their lives.

Now to hand out a cup of cold water today, there's no value in that, friends, but in that day it'll have a tremendous value, and it'll mean that you've taken a stand for Jesus Christ. That is the basis. It's an acceptance or rejection of Jesus Christ. And these who did not do it, he says, you rejected me. When you did this for my brethren, you did it for me, because they were representing me.

And that was the way they evidenced faith in the message that these messengers were bringing, was that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent, turn to Christ, and be saved. That brings us now to the 26th chapter. And this 26th chapter brings us to the final events, right before the cross of Christ. And we have here the plot to take him, that he's anointed by Mary of Bethany, sold by Judas Iscariot.

And the first Lord's Supper, and the predicted denial by Peter, agony in the garden of Gethsemane, betrayed by Judas, arrested by the chief priest, brought before Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin, and the denial by Peter. All this in one chapter. And as we said before, this is the longest chapter that we have in the Gospel of Matthew, 75 verses.

Now let's get into this chapter and see these tremendous things that are brought to our attention here. I also should say that I have never been quite able to figure out why those who divided the chapters of the Bible didn't make three chapters out of this. There's a natural break after verse 30, and again a natural break after verse 56. We'll see that as we get to it, but let's come now to this first section here.

I'm reading now, Matthew 26 verse 1: "And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings," what sayings? The Olivet Discourse. "He said unto his disciples," now he turns to his disciples with this message. He's answered their questions now. Here is something else. "Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified."

Now he says here, in two days is the feast of the Passover, and the Son of man's going to be betrayed and crucified. The very interesting thing is when you drop down to verse 5, or let me read on and come to verse 5. "Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him. But they said," notice this, "not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people."

Do you notice something that's very important for us to see here? First of all, in verse 2, for the sixth time now, he says that he's going to die. Six months before this, once a month, he's been telling them since they left Caesarea Philippi. He began there, and he announced his impending death. And now here he sets the time of his death.

He says he'll die during the Passover. But they said, "not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people." The very ones who put him to death said we'll not crucify him during the Passover. He said I'll die during the Passover. When did he die? He died during the Passover. He, not his enemies, set the time of his execution.

He's in command, friends, he's a king in Matthew. And when he seems more helpless and weaker than any other time, that's when he's in charge. Their bitter hatred, you see it led them to plot his murder. And they wanted to do it their way, but they'll not be permitted to do that. He's never so kingly as when he comes to the cross, and the closer he gets to the cross, the more kingly he becomes.

And this is an important section therefore. Now we pass from that incident to one that's all of marvelous light. Will you notice it, verse 6. "Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, there came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head as he sat at meat. But when his disciples saw it, they had bitter indignation to what purposes is this waste?"

Now before we get down into that, will you notice this lovely incident here? It was in home of Simon the leper. Why they call him Simon the leper? Did he have leprosy? No, he had had it. Who healed him? Jesus. And now he's able to sit down and have fellowship with the Lord Jesus and with those that are his. This is a wonderful scene.

My friend, the enemy today doesn't know him. I hear the liberal talk about Jesus, and they put on a play. This'll shock you. You can't read the Bible and have prayer, but you can have the dirtiest, filthiest plays you can imagine. And they put on a play of Jesus and his disciples, and I think it was in the upper room scene, and they all were homosexuals.

My friend, that's blasphemy. That's blasphemy. Of course, they don't know him. They don't know him. After all, as a bunch of lepers, spiritual lepers that put that on. And a spiritual leper, if he told the truth, he'd have to say he's unclean, unclean. But when you come to the Lord Jesus, and he cleanses you, then you can sit down and have fellowship with him.

And this is beautiful here. It's lovely here. There came this woman having an alabaster box of ointment. Now we are told who she is. The woman was Mary. John tells us that in the 12th chapter of the Gospel of John. She anointed both his head and his feet. And it was Judas then who led agitation against her.

We're told here though that all the disciples agreed with him. I think he led the marchers here, the protesters. After all, Judas was the first one to lead a protest. Verse 8: "But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor." These people that are always thinking about the poor and doing nothing themselves.

Now I'm going to say something now right strong, and I want you to hear it very carefully. We have in Washington quite a few of our legislators there that are millionaires that are always talking about a poverty program and something for the poor. Have you ever attempted to find out how much they personally have done for the poor?

And some of them are worth millions. I don't care for that kind of hypocrisy. I don't know about you, but that doesn't impress me at all. And these even, these apostles, don't impress me at all. They said, oh, this is waste of ointment, imagine it pouring it on the Lord Jesus and saying it should have been given to the poor.

I wonder how much they really cared about the poor. The evidence is always in. What are you really doing yourself? Are you trying to get votes? Are you really trying to help folks? Now these men here, they said, "for this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor." And that's accurate; it could have been.

"When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me." And friends, as far as a Christian is concerned, would you hear me very carefully? He ought to give nothing or do nothing that doesn't glorify the name of the Lord Jesus. Now I have been in Los Angeles for years, and this crowd down here's learned that I won't participate in all of these good works they do down here unless Christ is glorified in it, unless it's done in his name.

And I find out that they don't do very much. I'm amazed how little they really do. How much do they really give to the cause that gets out the word of God, or give to that which brings blessing to people? Who builds hospitals, anyway? Who builds orphan's home? Who really has fed the poor? Why, we hear today of the corruption that among the politicians in the poverty program.

It makes me sick to hear the liberal mouth about his concern for the poor. I don't believe a word of it. And I want to see it. And all the talk does not impress me at all. When it's done in the name of the Lord Jesus, he himself said it's a good work. It's a good work. "For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always."

And I want to say this: I think that those of us today who say that we trust Christ and want to glorify and honor him, we ought to be doing more in his name, by the way. "For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial to her."

You know, when Mary broke that alabaster box of ointment there in that home of Simon the leper in Bethany, that was the place of light and friendship for the Lord Jesus. Jerusalem was the place of hate. He never stayed there; he stayed out here with these people who loved him. Those are the ones he fellowships with today, those who love him and those who want him, and you can have him if you want him, friends.

Be very easy to, but this is such a beautiful thing, that box of ointment that she broke in that house that day, it's filled the world today because he said everywhere that the gospel goes this story would be told, and we're telling it right now, and they tell us that over a million people are hearing it. May I say to you, it's sweet ointment, friends, and our Lord recognized it.

They talk about the apostolic succession. I like the succession of Mary. She's the only one, the apostles missed the point. She's the only one before he died that entered into his death. And our Lord says this is a memorial for her because she stood on the fringe of things and entered into his death. This is just to let him know.

And did she waste her ointment? I've read the story that the morning that he came back from the dead, that first morning of the week, there came these other women and they brought ointment also to put on the body of Jesus. I have a question to ask you. Did they ever get their ointment on the body of Jesus? They did not. He was gone. He wasn't in that tomb.

Friends, Mary's the only one who got her ointment on him. And today we need to break our alabaster box of ointment to put it in the name of the Lord Jesus. I tell you, the world doesn't know him outside today, and we that know him ought to be very careful that we do things in his name and that he gets the glory and we don't get the glory.

Now that was a beautiful scene of light, now we have a dark scene, and in verse 14: "Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver." This is a dark thing. Dante gave Judas and Brutus the lowest place in the Inferno because they did the lowest and basest thing: betrayal of those that you should be loyal to.

And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him. Now they go into the upper room and they celebrate the Lord's Supper. And it's time for him to do that. And we're told when they went in, and I'll drop down to verse 21: "And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I?"

Every one of those men knew that he had it within him to betray Christ. Have you discovered that in your own heart and life? Friend, you and I are just that mean and low. Oh, you say I wouldn't do it. Are you sure about that? May I say even right now, you ought to cry out to him for mercy. I do it every now and then because I know he has to keep me. And may he keep you and me. Our time is up today and I want to pick up at that wonderful spot next time. Until then, may God bless you, my beloved.

Steve Schwetz: Read or listen to more about Jesus' mercy by clicking on "How Can I Know God" in our app or at ttb.org. This week, we're opening the archives for another never-before-aired Sunday sermon from Dr. McGee titled "What Does It Mean to Watch for the Lord?" It's based on Matthew 25. Listen in our app, at ttb.org, or call 1-800-65-BIBLE if we can help you find a local station that carries it.

Now as the Bible Bus rolls along, Dr. McGee continues through Matthew, and we're going to soon find ourselves in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus faces his greatest trial. I'm Steve Schwetz, and I'll be there, saving a seat on the Bible Bus just for you. Today's study with Dr. J. Vernon McGee is brought to you by Thru the Bible and it's made possible by the generous prayer and financial investments from listeners like you on the Bible Bus all around the world.